Deborah Caldwell is a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, in the Bristol Evidence Synthesis, Appraisal and Modelling (BEAM) Centre and the Centre for Public Health. She is co-director of the NIHR Bristol Evidence Synthesis Group and a co-convener for the Cochrane Comparing Multiple Interventions Methods Group (network meta-analysis methods group). She is a member of the Bristol Technology Assessment Group, who produce reviews of healthcare technologies to support the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance committees and other policy makers.  

Her PhD was awarded in 2008 and focused on the use of network meta-analysis by health reimbursement agencies. This was followed by a post-doctoral position as a statistician working with the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders group and a MRC Early Career Fellowship from 2011 to 2016, exploring how biases in evidence synthesis of psychiatric and mental health RCTs can be evaluated and mitigated. Deborah was then appointed as a Lecturer in Public Health and was co-director of the MSc in Public Health until April 2023. 

Deborah’s current research interests primarily focus on evidence synthesis methods to inform public health policy- and decision-making, with a particular interest in synthesis methods for evaluating and implementing complex public health interventions.

Deborah is a member of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology and was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2024.